The Cabin at the End of the World

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-2

Part 2, Chapters 3-4

Part 3, Chapters 5-6

Part 4, Chapter 7

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Part 2, Chapters 3-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2: “Let’s Make a Deal”

Part 2, Chapter 3 Summary: “Eric, Wen, and Andrew”

Content Warning: This section of the guide features antigay violence and an antigay slur.

The intruders tie Eric and Andrew to chairs. Wen sits on blankets between them. Her favorite show, Steven Universe, is on the TV, and she stares at the screen. Leonard sweeps up broken glass, Adriane tries to mend the cabin’s sliding doors, and Sabrina cleans and dresses Eric’s head wound. Eric experiences nausea and a headache from his concussion and is painfully sensitive to light and noise. He feels briefly pleased that the injury will leave a scar matching those of Wen and Andrew, and then he begins to cry. Sabrina comforts him.

Andrew accuses the group of targeting them because they’re a gay couple, but Leonard insists that this is untrue. The intruders take turns standing in front of the family and giving them details about their background. Sabrina reveals that she’s a post-op nurse from Southern California. Although she planned to train as a nurse practitioner, she used her savings to travel to New Hampshire. Leonard says he’s from Chicago and teaches sports at an elementary school. When his turn comes, Redmond ridicules the introduction process, but the others in the group insist that it’s part of the instructions they received. Redmond reveals that he’s single, lives in Massachusetts, and works for a gas company. He adds that he spent time in jail as a young man but is now reformed. Adriane explains that she works as a cook at a Mexican restaurant in Washington, DC. Eric interrupts, intending to tell the intruders that they’re wasting their time. However, he stops when a ray of the sun obstructs his vision.

Leonard tells the family that his group met for the first time that morning. A week earlier, they all received a message that the world’s end was imminent. Each of them had the same visions—the oceans would rise, a plague would follow, and the skies would “crash to the earth like pieces of glass” (94) before eternal darkness fell. Leonard states that Andrew, Eric, and Wen can prevent an apocalypse by performing a voluntary sacrifice. If they fail to kill a family member, they’ll survive, but the planet will be devastated, and everyone else will die. Leonard promises that the intruders won’t harm the family but will stay until they make a sacrifice or time runs out.

Eric and Andrew are adamant that they won’t make a sacrifice. Leonard announces that a choice has been made, and Redmond and Sabrina robotically line up with their weapons. Redmond looks terrified, passing his weapon to Leonard before kneeling in front of Eric and Andrew. Studying Redmond’s face, Andrew is convinced that he has seen it somewhere before. Redmond pulls a white mask over his face and repeatedly chants, “Thank you,” as the sun bathes him in light. Sabrina, Leonard, and Adriane gather around him, their faces blank. As they do so, Eric thinks he sees the light on the deck take the shape of a figure. Adriane swings her clawed weapon into Redmond’s masked face, and Sabrina joins in the attack. Redmond collapses and screams as the two women continue to assault him. Finally, Leonard uses a sledgehammer-like tool to smash Redmond’s ribs—and blood spurts across the room.

Leonard, Sabrina, and Adriane appear to have trauma after the attack. They cover Redmond’s body and drag him outside onto the deck. As Adriane moves a table, she unsuccessfully tries to switch on the yellow lamp. Redmond’s body, covered by a quilt, is still visible from inside the cabin. Eric recalls that his parents gave them the quilt as an apartment-warming gift, along with a framed motto declaring, “God bless this home and all who enter” (112). During their rare visits, Eric’s parents avoid staying in their apartment, insisting on visiting a nearby hotel.

Leonard checks his watch while Sabrina tries to soak up a pool of blood with towels. Leonard apologizes to the family for the violence they’ve witnessed but claims they have no choice. Eric tries to reason with the intruders, while Andrew urges them to let Wen and Eric go. Leonard turns on the TV, insisting that a critical news bulletin will air. They watch coverage of an earthquake in the Aleutian Islands and footage of various flooded and evacuated Hawaiian resorts. Andrew challenges Leonard’s claim that this is evidence of his apocalyptic prophecy. Leonard impatiently insists that they continue watching.

On the TV, a live broadcast shows a beach on the Oregon coast where the tide has dramatically receded, exposing gigantic rocks. Adriane excitedly identifies the biggest as the Haystack Rock featured in The Goonies. As a vast tidal wave approaches, people scream, unsuccessfully attempting to flee. Adriane and Leonard claim that they saw this tsunami in their visions. Leonard claims that the disaster is occurring because the family refused to make a willing sacrifice. Sabrina seems less certain and tries to divert Wen’s attention from the screen. She disagrees with Leonard when he insists that the whole family must see the consequences of their decision.

Part 2, Chapter 4 Summary: “Andrew, Eric, and Wen”

Leonard tells the family that they have another chance to make a sacrifice and save the world. He urges them to spend the day thinking about it. Andrew insists that they won’t change their minds, but Eric secretly dwells on the figure of light he believes he saw. The intruders busy themselves preparing food and cleaning the cabin. Wen watches cartoons; Eric and Andrew remain tied to chairs. Eric unsuccessfully attempts to engage the intruders in discussing their beliefs. He’s surprised to note that they don’t say grace before dinner.

At night, the intruders arrange mattresses on the floor. Andrew stays awake, working to loosen the ropes around his hands. Worried that the intruders’ claims are influencing Eric, Andrew points out that the Aleutian Islands earthquake and the Hawaii flooding occurred before Leonard and his companions arrived at the cabin. He surmises that the intruders knew about the natural disaster before switching on the TV.

Wen is scared of the dark and is accustomed to having a light on at night. Her fear is exacerbated by her view of Redmond’s body outside. Wen didn’t see the attack but remembers the terrible sounds and the smell of blood. She crawls to the yellow lamp and unsuccessfully tries to switch it on. Leonard wakes and explains that the room must be dark for Eric to recover from his concussion. He apologizes to Wen but claims that he’s carrying out God’s will. Leonard tries to convince Wen that humanity will be saved if one of her parents sacrifices himself. He assures her that she’s safe because both he and her fathers will protect her.

The next morning, the intruders are visibly anxious, and Adriane again presents the family with the choice. Andrew accuses the group of knowing about the earthquake before coming to the cabin. Adriane and Sabrina respond evasively, claiming that any foreknowledge they may have had is irrelevant. Sensing Eric’s conflicted state of mind, the intruders target their argument toward him. Sabrina claims that their visions independently directed them to the same location in New Hampshire where they first met. Agitated, Andrew claims that he knows why he recognized Redmond. He’s convinced that Redmond was Jeff O’Bannon—the man who attacked him in the bar.

Thirteen years earlier, Andrew was with a friend when a stranger assaulted him from behind. Using an antigay slur, the man smashed a beer bottle over Andrew’s head. Later in court, O’Bannon admitted that he was drunk and looking for a fight but denied that antigay prejudice motivated the attack. After the assault, Andrew took up boxing and self-defense. Obsessed with O’Bannon, he constantly looked up his name on the internet. Andrew still dwells on why O’Bannon targeted him and how he knew he was gay.

Eric is unconvinced of Andrew’s theory but humors his husband. Sabrina and Adriane are shocked and believe that the claim could be valid. Only Leonard challenges Andrew’s story, revealing that Wen told him a childhood accident caused the scar. Andrew explains that he wanted to shield his daughter from the grim truth. Sabrina and Adriane confront Leonard, asking if he knew who Redmond was. They point out that Redmond had already joined Leonard’s online “message board” before they discovered it. They also recall that Redmond was the first to have a vision of their destination. Leonard argues that they all had visions of the cabin and its location. He suggests that they’re being tested and must not be distracted from their goal. Sabrina claims that she’d have resisted participating in their mission if she’d known Redmond’s identity. However, she admits that the visions would likely have compelled her to join them anyway. During this debate, Andrew secretly releases his hands.

Adriane is next in line to die if the family fails to make a sacrifice. She becomes increasingly agitated, suggesting that the group harm one of the captives as a persuasive tactic. Adriane faces the family and asks if they’re happy to allow thousands of people to die. Pulling a white mask from her pocket, she reminds them that they must also witness her being bludgeoned to death. Wen screams and cries, suddenly remembering that she left the grasshoppers in the jar outside. Leonard claims that he set them free, but Wen doesn’t believe him. Eric, who has loosened his ropes, releases his hands to hug his daughter. Alarmed, the intruders surround him to resecure his restraints. Seeing his opportunity to retrieve the gun, Andrew unties his bonds and stands up. Eric punches the intruders as Andrew runs outside, pursued by Sabrina. Reaching the SUV, he sees that its tires are slashed.

Andrew and Sabrina fight, and Sabrina badly injures Andrew’s knee with her weapon. He locks himself inside the vehicle, retrieves the gun, and loads it with five bullets. His first shot hits the car’s interior. Sabrina runs, and Andrew again misses his target before she disappears out of view. Struggling to stand, he limps toward the cabin and sees the grasshopper jar, still sealed, sitting in the sunlight.

When Andrew enters the cabin, carrying the gun, the others don’t immediately notice him. With one leg still tied to his chair, Eric is swiping at Adriane with her weapon while she circles him with two kitchen knives. Everyone freezes when they see Andrew pointing the gun toward Leonard and Adriane. Wen recalls the day her parents showed her the gun, emphasizing how dangerous it was and insisting that she never touch it.

Remembering that Sabrina is still outside, Andrew glances over his shoulder. Adriane lunges at him with a knife, and he shoots her in the throat. Shocked, Andrew is slow to react when Leonard runs toward him. The two men wrestle over the gun while Wen helps untie Eric from his chair. Wen watches them fight and then ceases to see or feel anything.

Part 2, Chapters 3-4 Analysis

The novel’s psychological tension reaches a violent climax in Chapter 3 with Redmond’s killing, followed by the fatal shooting of Adriane and Wen in Chapter 4. Tremblay explains in his liner notes that a character’s touching the yellow lamp foreshadows that character’s death. The color yellow symbolizes death in the text.

The narrative point of view shifts among Andrew, Eric, and Wen. All three resist the intruders’ demands. However, their individual perspectives highlight how each responds differently to the terrifying situation. Angry and defiant, Andrew believes that the intruders are “delusional” and that reasoning with them is futile. Consequently, he focuses on engineering a means of escape. In contrast, Eric tries to understand the intruders’ motivations and beliefs, pinning his hopes on reasoning with the group. Wen’s narrative underlines her innocence and vulnerability as she tries to make sense of the horrific events that unfold in the cabin. The shocking impact of her accidental death intensifies because the author relates the incident from her perspective.

Eric and Andrew’s differing viewpoints introduce the theme of Subjectivity and the Impact of Personal History. Throughout the novel, the author highlights how the characters’ past experiences color how they perceive and respond to the home invasion. The survivor of an antigay attack, Andrew assumes that the intruders are “a fringe group of homophobic nutbags” (149). His first impression of Redmond as an antigay bigot crystallizes into the conviction that he’s the man who attacked him years earlier. Meanwhile, Eric’s Catholic upbringing, combined with his concussion, makes him more susceptible to the intruders’ mystical claims. While Eric realizes that he may have “misfiring synapses,” he can’t help viewing events through the lens of his Catholic faith. Thus, he interprets the figure of light he believes he sees as a divine or Christlike vision. Likewise, when Redmond kneels for his ritual execution, Eric equates the image with the Holy Eucharist. Through his eyes, Redmond is “in the supplicant’s eternal pose, awash in golden light, […] transformed” (97).

A key feature of Tremblay’s text is ambiguity. The intruders’ motive emerges in Chapter 3, but many other factors remain uncertain. The author intentionally doesn’t clarify whether Eric’s figure of light is real or if Redmond was Jeff O’Bannon. Andrew and Eric question whether the tsunami is evidence of an imminent apocalypse or whether the intruders had foreknowledge of the earthquake before arriving at the cabin. These ambiguities cause inner conflict for the characters, swaying their loyalties and creating mistrust. Eric’s vision makes him more inclined to believe that an apocalypse is imminent. Meanwhile, Sabrina and Adriane experience doubts about their mission’s validity when they learn that Redmond may have been O’Bannon. Only Leonard and Andrew unwaveringly maintain their original stances.

The author subverts expectations of a home invasion narrative. Home invaders are often generically depicted as sadists who take pleasure in terrorizing captives. In contrast, Tremblay’s intruders attempt to make themselves likable and apologetic. In a further twist on home invasion tropes, they begin to kill themselves and not their prisoners. The author’s atypical approach to the genre relies on the juxtaposition of normalcy and horror. After breaking into the cabin, the intruders’ determination to clean up the mess and present themselves as “normal people” is disorienting. The prolonged and visceral description of Redmond’s death further emphasizes the disparity between their alleged normalcy and intentions. After the brutality of the killing, Leonard’s group presents a disturbing tableau of domesticity as they set the table and prepare dinner. However, the visible presence of Redmond’s body outside mars their “surreal, relaxed-family-on-vacation vibe” (141). The quilt wrapped around Redmond’s corpse highlights the jarring juxtaposition of domesticity and violence, especially because the family received that quilt as a housewarming gift from Eric’s parents.

The theme of The Nature of Faith emerges through the portrayal of the intruders. Leonard presents himself and his companions as reluctant crusaders. Tremblay highlights the abdication of responsibility accompanying the intruder’s beliefs through Leonard’s claim that they have no choice. Describing the group as “a mechanism through which the message must pass” (86), he suggests that they’re powerless pawns, directed by a higher power. Although the group seems traumatized after killing Redmond, they’re zombie-like during the horrific attack. Their robotic and “choreographed” movements emphasize how their pseudo-religious ritual detaches them from the reality of their actions. However, the intruders are evasive about the precise source of their divine instructions. However, the revelation they met on an online message board that Leonard established hints that they’ve compounded one another’s delusions.